Advertising Age reported WPP CEO Cindy Rose is assembling her Dream Team for the Roserrection.
The first-round picks in the draft were already on the roster: one player was the Global CEO of White advertising agency Ogilvy and will replace the retiring WPP COO; another player—formerly serving as WPP CMO and Open X CEO—had initially agreed to join Publicis Groupe but will now replace the Ogilvy Global CEO. A third player—formerly serving as WPP’s client lead on Nestlé—was appointed to succeed the new Ogilvy Global CEO as Open X CEO.
In short, the lineup/acronym scrambling essentially shifts C-suite executives within WPP. So, it’s hard to say the reassignments improve the beleaguered White holding company; rather, key players were reallocated to different roles.
WPP drones at Ogilvy and Open X will likely be most dramatically affected, as they are suddenly reporting to new leaders, a scenario compounded by waiting to see how Rose ultimately impacts the UK-based corporation.
Earlier reports stated Rose would first conduct a strategic review. Yet she’s apparently been forced to conduct a succession review to address retirements, semi-resignations, and bailouts instead.
Per the contentions of Ad Age, is Rose “putting her stamp on the British ad giant with executive moves”—or is she just stamping out fires?
Welcome to WPP.
WPP’s leadership overhaul continues—Devika Bulchandani elevated to WPP role, Laurent Ezekiel heads to Ogilvy
By Ewan Larkin and Brian Bonilla
Only days into her tenure, Cindy Rose, WPP’s new CEO, is putting her stamp on the British ad giant with executive moves at the holding company and a rewriting of Ogilvy Group’s top ranks.
Devika Bulchandani, the global CEO of Ogilvy, has been appointed WPP’s next chief operating officer, succeeding longtime executive Andrew Scott, who will step down at the end of the year. Bulchandani will be replaced at Ogilvy by Laurent Ezekiel, WPP’s chief marketing officer and CEO of Open X, the bespoke team handling the company’s global Coca-Cola account.
Ezekiel’s appointment comes unexpectedly; just six weeks ago, he had been slated to join rival Publicis Groupe, which shares the Coke account with WPP.
“Devika’s deep obsession with helping our clients grow and win will help us accelerate our growth across the entire WPP landscape,” said Rose, who took the helm on Sept. 1, in a statement. “Laurent’s close, successful partnership with The Coca-Cola Company and creation of WPP Open X gives him valuable insight and experience to help navigate the needs of our largest clients, many of which are housed in Ogilvy.”
Below, Ad Age unpacks WPP’s latest leadership moves, including Open X’s new CEO.
The plan for Ogilvy
Bulchandani assumed Ogilvy’s top role in 2022, after previously serving as global president. During her tenure, the agency secured key talent and account wins, including H&R Block, Verizon and Mastercard. Before joining Ogilvy, Bulchandani held several positions at McCann, including president of the New York office.
Ogilvy is regarded as one of the few remaining iconic creative agencies in an industry increasingly battered by consolidation. However, like other shops within WPP, it has faced financial challenges. In the first half of 2025, the agency’s like-for-like revenue declined amid reduced client spending. In June, Ad Age reported that Ogilvy was laying off roughly 5% of its workforce—approximately 700 employees—as part of a restructuring effort.
In an interview, Bulchandani admitted that this year had been more challenging than previous years, attributing the slowdown to a tougher market for creative agencies.
“We need to continue to transform, and we need to continue to push and invest in the services our clients are demanding,” Ezekiel said. “That’s PR, social and influencer, commerce, the consulting division and health.”
Bulchandani said she will take on Scott’s former title, but with “reimagined responsibilities.” She will oversee all country managers, the global client organization and business development and growth. Scott will continue to support WPP in an M&A advisory capacity, according to Bulchandani.
The goal, she said, is to drive more integrated wins across WPP and Ogilvy. “That’s a big area of focus for us,” Bulchandani said.
Behind Ezekiel’s Publicis play
In July, Ad Age reported that Ezekiel was moving to Publicis, citing an internal memo from Manolo Arroyo, executive VP and global CMO of Coca-Cola. The hire was widely seen as a coup for Publicis, which snagged Coca-Cola’s North America media business from WPP in March. WPP, which in 2021 won the beverage giant’s creative, media, data and marketing technology business across more than 200 countries, retained the remainder of the global account.
WPP and Ezekiel declined to comment on whether he had signed a contract with Publicis. WPP said he had been working under “a notice period,” and Ezekiel told Ad Age he never officially became a Publicis employee. “I am currently and remain an employee of WPP,” he said.
Publicis declined to comment.
Ezekiel joined WPP as its CMO in 2019 after spending the majority of his career at Publicis, where he started in 2003. Asked why he had considered rejoining the French agency group, he said that at the time, he was looking for a change in his career.
“I was so ingrained in it—it was in my blood,” Ezekiel said, reflecting on winning the Coke account for WPP. “I ended up running it, and four years later, I think that was a very good run. I took it far, but I felt it was time for new leadership. I was also looking at my own career and felt it was time to do something a little different.
“When I was thinking about the next step, the question was whether there was anything at WPP I could do next, or anything outside WPP,” he said. “And at that moment, the answer was that there was something outside of WPP.”
Ezekiel said that he was not slated to work on the Coca-Cola account at Publicis, but declined to provide further details on the proposed role.
It was Rose, Bulchandani and the prospect of running Ogilvy—which Ezekiel called a “dream job”—that ultimately convinced him to stay, he said.
“Just listening to [Rose’s] vision and the clarity of her ambition, it’s very clear where she wants to go,” Ezekiel said. “What excited me specifically was her relentless focus on talent and her client-centric approach. And, of course, given her experience, I think she has so much to bring to our technology offerings and what we do in AI.”
What’s next for Open X
WPP has appointed Floriane Tripolino as CEO of Open X. She succeeds Ezekiel, who will become executive sponsor for Open X, a newly established role. Tripolino was previously WPP’s client lead for Nestlé.
Ezekiel will support Tripolino and the Open X team, focusing primarily on strategy. While Tripolino will manage Open X’s day-to-day operations, Ezekiel said he will remain hands-on where needed, noting that Coca-Cola is Ogilvy’s largest client.
“I look forward to the future and working closely with Laurent and Flo as we continue on our marketing transformation journey,” Arroyo said in a statement.
Marketing consultants who spoke with Ad Age before Rose’s leadership announcements explained that anyone leading Open X needs to be assertive enough to defend and advance the account while tactfully working alongside Publicis.
“Once Publicis sees a crack, they’re going to exploit that,” said a senior marketing consultant who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Tripolino knows Publicis well, having spent several years there before rejoining WPP in 2020. Her roles included serving as CEO of Publicis Japan, according to her LinkedIn profile. Earlier in her career, she worked at WPP’s JWT.
There is a lot riding on the Coca-Cola account, one of WPP’s top 10 clients. Any losses or missteps with the beverage giant could signal deeper systemic issues within WPP, said Tom Denford, CEO of ID Comms, noting that the account has effectively become the industry’s litmus test for the holding company’s health.
Responding to that notion, Ezekiel said the Open X model is going “very well.”
“If anyone had to run a litmus test over it, I think they’d come out with very positive results,” Ezekiel said.
In a statement on its leadership appointments, WPP said that Tripolino had “significantly expanded WPP’s media footprint” with Nestlé—a possible nod to WPP’s ambitions for reclaiming the North America media account from Publicis.
Asked about whether WPP hopes to reclaim that chunk of business, Bulchandani left no doubt.
“Hell yes,” she said.
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